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Campiglia Cervo (Biella)- Parish Church of the Saints Bernhard und Joseph
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Show to visit in the Biella area: |
 The parish church of Campiglia Cervo, dedicated to the saints Bernard and Joseph, is of the end of the sixteenth century and represents an expansion of the existing chapel originally dedicated to St. Martin.
The church, grafted on the back in several surrounding buildings, shows outside the granite stone from the valley with which it is made, except for the facade, which was built in 1848 based on a design by the engineer Alessandro Mazzucchetti and is in Baroque style.
The new recently installed lighting system allows to appreciate the richly decorated interiors, dominated by colors from yellow to orange. Many of the frescoes, in particular on the ceiling, seem to date back to the nineteenth century.
The most important art work in the church is a great altarpiece by Bernardino Lanino, depicting the patron saints of the Valley, commissioned by the local community to the great painter from Vercelli in 1565, when the erection of the church had just been planned. This painting was restored by Federico Rosazza in 1871 and more recently, in 1997, on the initiative of Doc.Bi and of a group of young entrepreneurs of the Industrial Union of Biella.
The polyptych consists of a large retable "divided into three levels, with a rich Renaissance frame, gilded and painted. The highest level is formed by a single panel representing the Eternal Father, cherub angels and the Holy Spirit; the first panel should be placed in relation to the one below on which the Deposition of Jesus from the Cross is painted; on the second level there are also four niches containing as many saints who represent the patrons of the Valley. In the predella you can see the twelve apostles, six on each side and all facing the center - as in a Last Supper. On the bases of the pilasters are painted the four doctors of the Western Church."
Another valuable framework contained in the church is the one depicting the crucifixion of Christ, the local painter Giovanni Antonio Cucchi, who became in 1700 Director of the Ambrosiana accademy in Milan. Noteworthy are furthermore the works of wood carving in the side chapels, made by Bartolomeo Termine and Pietro Antonio Serpentiero.
Interesting is the Chapel of St. Anthony, on the left side of the church, which is a small church within the church. The chapel has in fact a Latin cross planimetry, with two small side chapels to create a transept in miniature, and is separated from the rest of the church by a large window. The latter has a curious wooden frame the upper part of which looks like a spider web.
The church possesses a large bell tower in granite stone, finished in 1653.
The parish church of Campiglia Cervo also has other interesting features: as already mentioned its back is engaged in other buildings, so that several windows are in fact interior windows, which look over an enclosed space.
Above the apse there is an old theater / cinema, running until the fifties, and now unusable because of the lack of regulated accesses.
More pictures of the Parish Church of Campiglia Cervo
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Via Roma, 87, 13812 Campiglia Cervo BI |
Parish Church of the Saints Bernhard und Joseph: Further pictures in the section Photography |